Change Management Buzzword Bingo!

Seriously, sometimes working in change does feel like a perpetual game of buzzword bingo. And to be honest, I do think that sometimes we have to take a moment and look at the language we are using. Is this the best word we could use? Does it mean what we think it means to the people we are using it with?

Here’s my top 25 buzzwords and phrases that get bandied about. I’m sure you’ll add your own in the comments…

Capturing hearts and minds: Aaaaghhhhh. Stop it. Stop it now. This is too clichéd. And may be way over the top for what you need to do.

Agile: Note the big “A” — are you using it as an adjective (small a) as opposed to a large A (the methodology

Benefits realisation: jargon for does your change pay off. Never use it outside of a business case!

Rightsizing: Shudder. DO NOT USE. There is nothing right about laying people off, because you have made poor decisions.

Paradigm shift: Thought it went out in the 80’s? Apparently not…

Air-gap. A new one doing the rounds — it’s an IT network computing term, which means one computer is isolated from the others. It’s being used to describe teams that won’t talk to each other.

Take them on a journey. Please stop it. All I can think of is National Lampoons Vacation.

Disruption. One man’s disruption is another man’s discomfort. Be very careful about using this one…if its new for you it may not be disruptive for others.

Time box: A project planning term which means thinking about deliverables in a fixed period of time. It should not be used as a verb. That’s just sloppy.

3 Comments

Love the list. All cringe-worthy. Started a similar list at an ACMP convention, over drinks with friends. It turned into an ACMP presentation a year or two later.. Minor nit – dais, not dias. Keep up the good work. Words matter.